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View Full Version : Aggressive hamster, not sure what to do?


Perfect_One
02-16-2010, 08:28 PM
I have a female chinese hamster, she looks adorable and is probably the most self aware animal I have ever seen, however she's very aggressive, and I'm not sure what to do with it. I haven't given up just..

1. If anything goes near her cage she lunges like a crazed killer.

2. If she doesn't do that, if she can she physically trys to take a bite out of anything close to her

3. I need gloves to handle her, and by this I wait till she climbs out and gently picks up, if I don't, she will physically bite down and latch herself onto whatevers in her cage.

The Behavior is bizzare, I thought maybe she was angry about having a small cage and not much to do. Fixed this by buying a huge, overly expensive play area.

No real effect, she's just plain mean spirited. I've never encoutered such an aggressive little animal. No one here as ever done anything to her, if anything everyone besides me leaves her alone.

What more can I do to make this animal's life better? If she doesn't like people that's fine with me, I just want to make sure her quality of life is the best it can be.

souffle
02-17-2010, 04:52 AM
Hello and welcome.
Chinese are normally very placid and gentle hamsters.
I wonder if something happened before she came to you that has made her frightened?
The behavior sound like Cage aggression to me or Cage rage, which is when a hamster is very protective of its territory. You cannot put your hand into the cage or even go near the outside really. You need to take these hamsters out the cage using a box or ball and something to herd them into it then take them well away from the cage for handling.
Chinese can be quite shy and tend to prefer more enclosed cages with plenty hidey holes and deep litter to burrow in. They like tanks and the plastic tank type cages like Duna's.
Is she still in the small cage when not in the playpen? They don't really like to be exposed in a playpen and they find it scarey especially if you swoop down on them as they will go into defensive mode thinking a bird of prey is after them.
I would take lots of time and very gradually start taming her as if she is a new hamster. She may never be very tame but at least she will be handleable. Always get her out using a box or ball and go to a low safe area to handle. They is an article on the WIKI called taming tips you can look at. I don't think that Chinese fuss for too much out time and seem content pottering in their cages compared to say a Syrian.
Don't push her to hard or quickly and I'm sure she will come round.
Good luck.